Rising Talent: Jack Cutmore-Scott - "The Next Matt Damon"

Jack Cutmore-Scott in the dressing room.
It remains to be seen if he lives up to the expectations that have been placed on him. And they are many, what with his debut this week as the lead character in Entertaining Mr. Sloane in Boston. But Jack Cutmore-Scott, the young (22) Harvard Senior and already accomplished actor is likely to fulfill them. He has the charisma, the accent, the talent, and yes, the looks.

Jack Cutmore-Scott opens this week in Entertaining Mr. Sloane at the Boston Center for the Arts. Susanne Nitter photo.
I was pleased to be able to do a profile of Jack for Arts America and get the ball rolling. Now the Boston Globe's Joel Brown has followed up with this great compliment:

“He’s probably the most talented undergraduate I’ve seen come through since Matt Damon,’’ says director Eric C. Engel.

Jack may be straight, but he is not intimidated to play the bisexual Mr. Sloane, nor to don a dress in the service of the Hasty Pudding Club. "It's not that different from the British panto I was brought up with, and just as much fun." I mention this because should you entertain any thoughts of chasing Mr. Sloane, you will have a lot of competition - his female fans outnumber the male ones by a wide margin.

Where's Jack? Welcoming a Hasty Pudding winner.
The Hasty Pudding boys like to watch.
Entertaining Mr. Sloane is of course written by the infamous (and out gay playwright) Joe Orton, whose life was explored in the testily titled Prick Up Your Ears. And Orton is a genius with both convoluted plots and hilarious farce which explode in equal portions of gasps and laughter from an audience.

If you plan to be in Boston between now and April 3, I urge you to find your way to the Publick Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre, and be among the first to see this promising new talent at work. Tickets are priced at $33-$37.50. You can call for reservations at 617-933-8600, or go online to order them at www.bostontheatrescene.com

Jack's roots as a comic actor sometimes go to his head. Candid photos from Mr. Scott and his friends.
While in Boston you should also consider seeing The Adding Machine, a new musical from the Speakeasy Stage, and of course, The Donkey Show - a disco version of A Midsummer's Night Dream at American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge. And to top off these treats, Ryan Landry's Phantom of the Oprah is the ultimate spoof with Varla Jean Merman playing at The Machine.

Berkshires Snuggle Time - but Boston is about to get HOT!

This Mr. Sloane is going to be very entertaining.
At this point every winter many of us in the Berks start to get Cabin Fever, and there are simply not very many LGBT events here to make us leave the house. But my mind itches, it needs stimulation. So my annual forays into Boston and Albany begin. I would much rather write about events in the Berkshires, but other than The Mikado March 6 at the Colonial Theatre, there isn't a lot I am looking forward to.

Boston is humming. Their theatre and entertainment scene is approaching its peak. There's much to recommend as being worth a special trip. At the top of my list is Big Bean's Publick Theatre. They are mounting one of my favorite Joe Orton plays, Entertaining Mr. Sloane. It runs at the Boston Center for the Arts. The handsome and manipulative boarder who turns on and upsets the whole household is played by Jack Cutmore-Scott. Jack is currently in his fourth year at Harvard, and we hope to have an in-depth interview with him as to how he will approach his role. Jack is straight we are told, and so may be Mr. Sloane. It's complicated, funny and, yes, Mr. Sloane is entertaining too.

Cars, Kisses and Rusty Daggers
It's an all British cast for this production, including the return to the Boston stage of Sandra Shipley who plays Kath, a lonely, delusional landlady, in the junkyard house she shares with her declining father, Kemp (Dafydd Rees). Sloane, ever the handsome opportunist, quickly ingratiates himself, entering into seductions offered by both Kath, and her estranged brother Ed (Nigel Gore), who soon employs Sloane as his driver. Sloane’s past misdeeds and the dueling affections within the family soon collide, leading to a desperate act that proves the limit of his charms, and reveals the ruthless and cunning strategies that Sloane’s victims will engage in to preserve their unique arrangement.

The play is directed by Eric Engel who describes the dark comedy as "almost a farce. All four characters, because they are desperately lonely, allow their domestic, social and animal instincts to become irrevocably intertwined.” He adds, “Orton eliminates the line between the obvious and the Freudian, making things all the more confusing and delightful. Entertaining Mr. Sloane is a perfect play for today's audiences, who can explore sexuality with intrigue and open minds, rather than fear and judgment.”

Few had heard of Maxwell Caufield until he played Mr. Sloane off-Broadway back in the 80's.
Entertaining Mr. Sloane will run from March 11 through April 3, 2010 at the Plaza Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street in Boston's South End. Performances are Wednesdays at 7:30pm, Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays at 8:00 pm, Saturdays at 3:00 pm and 8:00 pm and Sundays at 3:00pm. Tickets: $33.00 - $37.50. (SPECIAL PRICING: Preview Performances March 11 -14 - All Tickets $20. More information from the Publick Theatre website.